New Senior Geography syllabus update (July)

Dates for consultation on the new draft syllabus for Senior Geography have recently been announced. To find about about the dates click to see the Geography and Geography Life Skills Stage 6 Draft Syllabus Consultation page.

There are several documents worth reviewing prior to consultation sessions:
- The Geography and Geography Life Skills Stage 6 syllabus review (released 2018)
- Geography and Geography Life Skills Stage 6 Draft Directions for Syllabus Development (released for the consultation period July-September 2018)
- Feedback from GTANSW and ACT

Draft Directions
At this stage four different options for course structure have been provided by NESA for review and consultation. The new syllabus draft that will be released just prior to the consultation meetings (22 July) is likely to be based on one of these models.

Preliminary course
All Preliminary options provided included a topic on The Nature of Geography, a Geographical Investigation and a Global Transformations topic. This last topic may be drawn from the Australian Curriculum and can be found at the Australian Curriculum (Global Transformations) page.

Two of the proposed course structure options included Natural and Ecological Hazards, likely drawn from the Australian Curriculum (Natural and Ecological Hazards) topic. One option included Biophysical Interactions, likely drawn from the existing Stage 6 syllabus. One option includes a topic Physical Environments and Natural Hazards, possibly a melding of the existing Biophysical Interactions topic and the Australian Curriculum Natural and Ecological Hazards. 

HSC course
Sustainable Places looks certain to be included in the HSC course, being in each of the 4 proposed options. This is one of the Australian Curriculum topics and the national version of the topic can be found on the Australian Curriculum (Sustainable Places) site.

The Ecosystems at Risk topic has been retained in all four options, but in Option 4 to a lesser extent. Until the draft syllabus is released we won't know how much of the actual topic is likely to be changed or retained.

Population Change is a topic in two of the proposed course structure options. The topics Human and Ecological Change, People and Economic Integration and Landcover transformation are each found in one option. It is possible that these will draw on the Australian curriculum topic Australian Curriculum (Landcover Transformation), or the existing People and Economy Activity topic.

Overview - What we know so far...
Preliminary course
3 topics and an investigation:
- Nature of Geography
- Global Transformations
- One topic still to be announced - possibly some combination of Biophysical Interactions and Ecological Hazards or one or the other.
- Geographical Investigation

HSC course
3 (possibly 4) topics:
- Sustainable Places
- Ecosystems at Risk (but may be a shorter version of the current topic)
- One topic (or possibly two) still to be announced. There are a few different options as to what this topic will be.

This is the first time there has been change in the Senior Geography syllabus in NSW for many years. It is important that as many people get involved in the consultation sessions as possible. Make sure you attend and have your say.

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Later edit following release of Draft Syllabus:
Preliminary topics are:
- Earth's Natural Systems
- Human Systems
- Human-Environment Interactions
- Geographical Investigation

HSC topics are:
- Planning for Sustainability
- Urban and Rural Places
- Ecosystems and Global Biodiversity